In a typical ink jet recording or printing system, ink droplets are ejected from a nozzle towards a recording element or medium to produce an image on the medium. The ink droplets, or recording liquid, generally include a recording agent, such as a dye or pigment, and a large amount of solvent. The solvent, or carrier liquid, typically is made up of water, an organic material such as a monohydric alcohol, a polyhydric alcohol, or mixtures thereof.
An image recording element typically includes a substrate having at least one porous ink-receiving surface or image-forming layer. A preformed solid latex layer has also traditionally been formed over the ink-receiving surface to provide protection and image enhancement to the porous ink-receiving surface.
While the solid latex layer does enhance and protect the ink formed image, it also presents a number of issues. Traditionally, the latex layer has been formed including a large quantity of binder material, such as water soluble polymers, to keep the latex layer together and to facilitate the adherence of the latex layer to the porous substrate. While the binder material facilitated the adherence of the latex layer to the porous substrate, large quantities of binder material also reduce the porosity of the latex layer and consequently decrease the penetration rate of ink through the latex layer and into the porous ink-receiving layer beneath. Moreover, incompatibility between binders of a top and a bottom layer often cause internal haze. This undesirable haze was exaggerated when exposed to heat and/or pressure.